Flyers, leaflets, brochures, and booklets are often confused, yet each plays a unique role in printing and marketing.
While they may look similar at first glance, their formats, distribution methods, and purposes differ significantly.
From single-page promotional flyers to multi-page informational brochures, understanding these distinctions helps businesses choose the most effective option for communicating their message, engaging audiences, and maximizing print investment.
Comparing Flyers vs Leaflets vs Brochures vs Booklets
The key differences between flyers, leaflets, brochures and booklets is vital for both production and for avoiding expensive printing mistakes.
Here’s how to tell the difference so you can order the right product, quantity and quality for your marketing strategy.
What Is a Flyer?
A flyer is a piece of printed paper with eye-catching visuals that is used for advertising events or promotions. The goal of flyers will depend on your business’ and marketing objectives, ultimately they are best employed as catchy, one-page advertisements for wide distribution.
The most common flyer format is US Letter (8.5″ x 11″) but they can range between different sizes for different purposes. Here’s a list of the most common and standard flyer size ranges in the US and what they are used for:
- Business Card (2″ x 3.5″): Appointment cards, small coupons, or for networking events.
- Postcard (4″ x 6″ or 5″ x 7″): Direct mail campaigns and personal handouts, like appointment reminders, coupons, and save-the-date notices.
- Half Sheet (5.5″ x 8.5″): Event handouts, promotional package inserts, and leave-behinds on counters.
- Letter (8.5″ x 11″): Corporate handouts, informational sheets, event announcements for wall posting, and business mailings.
- Legal (8.5″ x 14″): Detailed price lists, legal notices, comparison sheets, and extensive menus.
- Tabloid (11″ x 17″): Window advertisements, event posters, and detailed menus or product showcases.
Check out our Flyer Design Guide for help with getting your flyers print-ready!
Beyond size, the paper weight choices for flyers usually need to be from light to medium, especially when considering cost and the ease of distribution. The standard is to use 70 lb to 100 lb text stock which is light enough to be cost-effective in printing in bulk and is flexible to be handed out to potential leads.
What Is a Brochure?
Brochures and flyers are different because, unlike flyers, brochures are always folded.
They are printed on high quality paper and are used to showcase service or product information in more detail than in a flyer, and are normally distributed during trade fairs, shows, exhibitions and company meetings.
Brochures have many advantages for marketers at these events since they:
- Give potential customers more information
- Boost sales leads and conversions in a natural way
- Provide people with a beautiful printed product to take away
The most distinguishing feature of a brochure is the type of fold. These different folds are used for displaying different information about your businesses.
Here is a list of the most common brochure folds:
- Unfolded: Most similar to flyers and best for advertising events and special offers.
- Bi-Fold: For a short, concise presentation of your services or products in a book-like style.
- Tri-Fold: Good for breaking down information for multiple products and services or for events.
- Z-Fold: One of the most classical, map-style designs that are great for tourist information and menus.
- Gate-Fold: Often used for luxury products, high-end branding, or invitations where you want the center spread to make a big impact
- Accordion Fold / Roll Fold: Ideal for step-by-step guides, travel itineraries, or informational brochures that need clear, unfolding sequences.
Explore our guide for the different Types of Brochure Folds!
For brochures, the quality of the paper matters more than with flyers and have a thicker paper stock, ranging from 80 lb (slightly thicker than the average sheet of paper) to 12 pt card for much higher durability:
- 80 lb text: Standard corporate brochures with mixed content of both text and images.
- 100 lb text: Higher-end portfolios with a lot of visuals
- 12 pt card: Fold-out menus and trade shows
- 18 pt card: Higher quality thick card stock brochure
Coating also matters much more for brochures than for flyers.
Depending on the information that you want to include on your brochures you should pick either:
- Matte coating: For legibility and less glare, usually for professional brochures or restaurant menus.
- Gloss coating: For image-heavy brochures, such as product showcases, events or tourism.
What Is a Booklet?
A booklet contains multiple pages that fold together and are designed to feature more in-depth information about a company’s products and services, especially for more technical specifications or pricing.
Since booklets are multi-page products, they require binding to keep the pages together.
This is usually done with a saddle-stitch for thinner booklets (from 4 to 48 pages) while thicker catalogs require perfect binding.
Unlike flyers or brochures, the margins are an important factor in booklet design as they need to be wide enough to allow for the binding without affecting the content.
Saddle-stitch requires allowances for fold whereas perfect binding needs greater gutter (the extra space added on the inside edge to allow for binding).
Cost Comparison: What Affects Pricing?
Pricing between flyers, brochures and booklets can vary according to the size and the quality of what you are after.
There are three factors to watch for: the paper weight, the coating, and the quantity you need.
Knowing what you want before placing an order can help you keep costs down and to a budget.
How Do I Find the Right Paper Weight?
Paper weight is the thickness that you need your flyer, brochure or booklet to have. It can range from very thin and flexible paper, ideal for folding, to thicker and sturdier card, which is better for durability.
Here’s a chart of the common paper weights you will usually have available for a flyer, brochure or booklet:
| Paper Weight | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 70 lb Text | Light but sturdier than copy paper and easy to fold | Standard mailer |
| 80 lb Text | Medium-weight with low thickness | Magazine pages |
| 100 lb Text | Heavy text sheet with a substantial feel | Catalog pages |
| 120 lb Text | Maximum text sheet, much more rigid | Prestige booklet pages |
| 12 pt Card | Thin card stock that is light and bendable | Greeting card |
| 14 pt Card | Medium card stock with balanced thickness and rigidity | Standard postcard |
| 16 pt Card | Heavy card stock that is firm and sturdy | Premium business card |
| 18 pt Card | Very heavy card stock that is thick rigid and durable | Membership or loyalty cards |
Paper weight is divided between text stock, thinner and more flexible paper measured in pounds (lb), and card stock, which is thicker and measured in points (pt).
The further up the scale you go, the thicker the paper is, and the higher the price.
Here’s how the thickness compares between flyers, brochure and booklets:
- Business Flyers: Typically printed on lighter, more flexible 70-120 lb text stock, making them ideal for widespread distribution and easy folding.
- Club Flyers: Printed on thick, durable 12 pt to 18 pt cardstock, these are designed for high-impact promotions and often feature a high-gloss or UV coating to stand out.
- Brochures: Brochures need to be flexible to be able to be folded so usually are similar to flyers 70-100 lb For a more premium feel, 12pt to 16pt can also be used.
- Booklets: Booklet thickness depends on the type of cover. For thinner booklets of around 8 to 12 pages, self covers are the most economical option as all the pages are printed on the same paper. For thicker booklets, the better choice is a real cover that uses 12pt or more card stock and are much thicker.
Unsure how to get your format right? Check out our Tutorials!
How Do I Pick the Right Coating?
The right coating for a given print product will depend on the quality and the content that is on your flyer, brochure or booklet.
There are usually two options when it comes to aqueous coating for the paper of these products: glossy coating or matte coating:
- Gloss coating: A shiny coating that lets images pop out. This is usually best for image heavy flyers or brochures but not ones with a lot of information.
- Matte coating: A coating that reduces glare to make brochures and booklets more legible. These are best when you have a lot of information on your brochures or booklets.
How Does Quantity Affect the Price?
The quantity you need will depend on your own business objectives.
For mass distribution, consider a lower paper weight and coating quality, whereas for more usable and durable products, you should want a lower quantity.
Generally speaking, you should consider:
- Flyers: Flyers generally need to be distributed quickly and among a lot of people so keeping the paper weight down and applying the aqueous coating is the best way to have large volume orders on a tight budget.
- Brochures: Brochure will depend on quality and their use. For appearing at a single trade show, high quality with lower volume would be the right price balance. If you want more brochures to hand out like a flyer, consider lowering the paper weight.
- Booklets: Booklets usually need to be of high-quality and durable so these will always be more expensive. You will generally need less of them which keeps the costs open to having more premium paper and coating.
How To Choose the Best Format for Your Business
Flyers, brochures and booklets can all be used very effectively, in tandem with other marketing strategies.
According to RRD’s Print Impact Report, 51% of the marketers using both print and digital in 2024 have both strategies closely integrated, meaning that print is being used to complement their overall approach.
Here’s an overview of the best formats for different types of businesses:
- Restaurants use flyers for daily specials and coupons, brochures for catering services, and booklets to present their full menus.
- Shops announce sales with flyers, highlight product lines with brochures, and showcase seasonal catalogs in booklets.
- Salons use flyers for discounts and promotions, brochures to explain their services and pricing, and booklets to detail treatment menus.
- Gyms hand out free trial passes with flyers, describe membership options with brochures, and publish class schedules or fitness programs in booklets.
- Realtors market open houses with flyers, feature property listings in brochures, and create sales and buyers guides in booklets.
- Travel Agencies promote last-minute deals with flyers, outline tours and packages with brochures, and present detailed destination guides in booklets.
- Event Planners use flyers to spread the word about upcoming events, brochures to provide key event details, and booklets to serve as programs or schedules.
- Auto Repair Shops distribute coupons with flyers, explain their services with brochures, and promote maintenance packages in booklets.
- Museums advertise events with flyers, describe exhibits with brochures, and use booklets to guide visitors through collections.
- Galleries use flyers to invite people to openings, brochures to introduce artists, and booklets to present exhibition catalogs.
- Charities promote fundraising events with flyers, explain their mission with brochures, and share impact reports in booklets.
- Law Firms advertise workshops with flyers, outline their legal services with brochures, and present firm profiles or case studies in booklets.
- Schools promote open days with flyers, describe academic programs with brochures, and publish course catalogs in booklets.
- Veterinary Clinics advertise first-visit discounts with flyers, explain pet care services with brochures, and promote wellness plans in booklets.
Get Quality Printing Solutions in the US with ChilliPrinting
ChilliPrinting is an online printing company that offers cost-effective offset printing solutions for a wide range of organizations.
We provide a vast range of product choices for small to medium-sized businesses, non-profits, and public sector institutions looking for high-quality flyers, leaflets, brochures, and booklets at the right price.
We offer:
- Extensive Fold Variety: We offer a wide selection of 12 unique brochure folds, including less common options like accordion and roll folds with up to 7 panels, giving you more creative possibilities for your designs.
- High-Capacity Booklets: For more substantial projects, we print booklets with up to 320 pages, far exceeding the industry standard.
- Reliable Delivery Times: Our efficient process ensures your printed materials are produced and shipped on schedule, helping you meet your deadlines.
- Personal Support: Whether you need help selecting the right paper or have technical questions, we’re here to provide the guidance you need for a successful outcome.
Find out how ChilliPrinting can get your next project printed to perfection and delivered on schedule.
